Developer Cosmonaut Studios and Publisher Secret Mode have teamed up to create Eternal Threads, a bit of a wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey narrative-driven mystery game.

It all seems rather enthralling with an opening sequence that will surely grab you and not let go. Does the entire game deliver the same level of intrigue though and is it worth checking out?

We’re here to answer that.

The Threads of Fate

Eternal Threads immediately comes across as a game that holds nothing back. The opening sequence wherein you are transported back to the past is equal parts creepy and terrifying yet remarkably compelling.

Players will take on the role of a mute character known as “Forty Three”. As Forty Three, you are sent back in time to the scene of a horrific accident which has apparently changed the fate of the world.

A brief time machine sequence plays out (and if you have any sort of aversion to flashing lights, you’d best look away because it’s quite intense) and you’re suddenly located inside a house that looks like it’s seen way better days.

Players will be instructed by “Control” to place three beacons and amplify their signal. Once this is done, the game’s proper storytelling aspects come into play. Eternal Threads ropes you into its complex web of interactions by slowly introducing the game’s time travel exploration mechanics.

Instead of moving yourself through time, you will instead use a portable device to view segments of history that play out inside the house.

Soon enough you’ll be encounter the game’s major characters. Six housemates who each have their own backstories and perplexities.

The real kicker being that they have all somehow ended up dead because of a fire that ripped through their home. It’s up to you as the player to piece together the story and decipher just what exactly happened.

Eternal Threads is a slow burn of a game. The introductory sequence does its bit to hook you and just when you think it’s getting a tad formulaic, the game ramps things up and shows you that it’s not afraid to take chances with dark topics such as drug abuse and more.

The pacing for the gaming can be adjusted by selecting either a normal mode or an “abridged” mode right at the beginning. The abridged mode focuses on the core story while the normal mode has far more events to view and far more decision making to reach your final outcome.

We opted to play through the full story and oh boy it was worth it, even if it was a lot longer.

While slowly learning more about the characters in Eternal Threads, players can instantly activate any one of the events on the timeline that’s available to them.

Doing this, however, might not make any sense to you and it’s probably for the best if you play through the timeline in its chronological order. Some late game scenes carry far more weight when you’ve grown attached to specific characters and their personalities.

Players will be altering the timeline in Eternal Threads by intervening in conversations and altering outcomes during key moments. You can then lock in your choice and see how it pans out later in the timeline.

Bringing up the timeline is easy to do and so too is locking your choices or changing them. You’ll want to go back to specific events and change them so as to experience both the current timeline and the alternate timeline that you’re seeking to achieve.

Once you’ve gained enough information from the timeline altering, you’ll then be able to decide for yourself what’s the best course of action later in order to save the six housemates.

Eternal Threads therefore involves piecing together the mystery of just what happened in the week leading up to the fire and it’s absolutely fantastic.

The writing of the game might delve a bit too deep into some British soap opera cliches at times, but overall, it was still a breath of fresh air in a world of games that don’t really take a risk with storytelling.

Weaving together actual exploration of the house, having parts of it locked away and objects hidden makes for some engaging storytelling and the environment itself is the real star of the show.

Graphically, Eternal Threads’ environmental design is ridiculously good. The house looks lived in and there’s plenty of objects scattered around in each and every single room.

These objects really show you as the player the different personalities of each of the housemates and how they live and what they are all about. It’s environmental storytelling at its finest and Cosmonaut Studios have really outdone themselves here.

Unfortunately the ghostly character models themselves don’t have the same level of visual fidelity and look a bit lacklustre in contrast to the gorgeous environments.

The soundtrack of Eternal Threads is great with the music keeping up the suspense and the sound effects really helping in driving the plot forward. The voice acting, which features a lot of British accents might be a bit much for some people though but personally, we really enjoyed it.

Character’s emotions and personalities really showed through thanks to the voice acting cast doing a solid job.

Final Verdict

Overall, Eternal Threads is a great story driven narrative mystery solving game.

It deals with some sensitive topics though and is definitely not aimed at a younger audience. If you’re a fan of games that feature storytelling interwoven with decision making and piecing together information to get the full picture, Eternal Threads will appeal to you.

If, however, you aren’t a fan of this genre of interactive entertainment, you may want to look elsewhere.

Eternal Threads still gets a solid recommendation from us though and kept us entertained for more than 10 hours piecing together the segmented timeline.